Look for the monumental beige stucco building shaped like a traditional cross, anchored by an intricately carved, 125-foot corner bell tower. Riverside wasn't just built organically, it was willed into existence by forceful personalities. Enter Frank Miller. He was a domineering civic force and the proprietor of the famous Mission Inn just down the street. Miller didn't just run a hotel, he wanted to shape the city's entire architectural identity to match his grand, romantic vision. A member of this congregation since 1878, Miller championed the hiring of architect Myron Hunt in 1913 to build a structure that perfectly complemented his hotel's Spanish Revival aesthetic.
That soaring tower is designed in the Churrigueresque style, an intensely ornate form of Spanish architecture loaded with complex, dramatic sculptural details. Surprisingly, despite its grandeur, that towering belfry sat completely empty for over seventy years. It wasn't until 1986 that congregants finally installed 24 French bells, creating the only pealing set in Southern California.
This building is so much more than a pretty facade, it is a fortress of conviction. Just after opening in 1914, Booker T. Washington spoke from its pulpit. During World War Two, when Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps, this church stepped in to safely hold and protect the assets of Riverside's Japanese American congregation.
That fierce protective spirit has never faded. In 1995, after a local gay man named Jessy Owens was killed steps from these doors, the church hung a massive rainbow flag in defiance. They later proudly performed the county's first legal same-sex marriage, and in 2017, they gathered 42 volunteer immigration lawyers to offer this building as a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants facing deportation. It is a place where marginalized people, like a transgender woman named Eva-Genevieve Scarborough who initially hid in the balcony out of fear, eventually found a community that brought her right to the front pews. If you want to peek inside, their doors are generally open middays during the week, except on Tuesdays. Now, as we transition from these deep spiritual foundations to literal trials by fire, let's head to the Riverside Fire Department, just a five-minute walk away.
